


A Girl's Best Friend

by doing_her_best



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 01:57:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19879708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doing_her_best/pseuds/doing_her_best
Summary: Early on in their relationship, Emma and Alyssa discover their first major conflict: Emma's best friend is her cat, and Alyssa is deathly allergic.A little fluff, a little hurt-comfort, a lot of awkward lesbians being awkward.





	A Girl's Best Friend

Alyssa absolutely hated cats.

She thought they were mean, aloof creatures that didn’t make very good house pets. They run away and don’t really care if you are there or not, as long as you feed them. She also thought cats were, well, boring. They sat around all day and didn’t do anything except scratch you. She much preferred dogs. Dogs were actually excited to see you and play with you and were much more fun. 

But she mostly hated cats because she was allergic to them.

And not just a little bit allergic, but _very_ allergic. The kind of allergic where she couldn’t be couldn’t be in a room with a cat for five minutes before her whole face started to itch and she would start sneezing every few seconds. The kind of allergic where ten minutes with a cat would ruin her entire day and force her to leave a room with bright red eyes and a streaming nose looking far less cute than she ever wanted to be in public.

And this was a problem.

Because Emma loved cats. 

She dressed as a cat for the first halloween she could remember. She procrastinated by watching silly cat videos on youtube and volunteered at the local animal shelter on the weekends. She had cat stickers on her notebooks and warm slippers with cat faces on them that she wore on chilly nights. She loved dogs, too, and basically anything with fur, but she was absolutely nuts about cats. 

Because Emma’s best friend was a cat.

Shakespeare was an old, orange tabby cat that followed Emma around her grandmother’s house every minute of every day. Whenever Emma was still, he immediately crawled into her lap and started purring like a motor boat. At meal times, when she was doing homework, and when she slept, Shakespeare was always there. Emma could always count on him to cuddle whenever she was reading; there was nothing she loved more than lying across her bed with her nose in a book, Shakespeare nestled in her side. They spent summers stalking through fields together and cozy winters curled up by the fireplace. 

Shakespeare didn’t let anyone but Emma touch him. Her grandfather had rescued him when he was a kitten; Emma was four then, and she didn’t care about the scratches the scrawny animal dolled out if it meant she got to cuddle him. Her grandfather said they were both old souls, and it didn’t take long before the two had a special bond. 

This made spending time with Alyssa challenging, to say the least. 

* * *

The first time Emma invited her over, they had been dating just over a month. It was a few weeks before Christmas when Betsy told Emma she had book club on Thursday and wouldn’t be coming home until very late. Emma took the opportunity to invite over her girlfriend for the first time, and both of them were very excited and very anxious. The fact that Emma had a cat hadn’t come up until Alyssa stepped inside their living room, very nervous to be at Emma’s grandma’s house for the first time, and instantly felt her eyes start to itch. 

“Let me show you around,” Emma said, equally nervous. Their relationship was still new, and they were still learning about each other, so Emma wanted to make a good impression on this crucial date. She gave Alyssa a quick tour of the small house, but Ayssa could barely pay attention. Before long, her throat started to tickle and she discreetly started to rub her nose. She didn’t really think too much of it until Emma opened the door of her bedroom, and Alyssa saw an orange little devil perched on Emma’s pillow.

“And this is my room,” Emma said, trying to smile. She was afraid Alyssa wouldn’t like the decour, or think her posters were dorky. 

“I... didn’t know you had a c-cat…” Alyssa said, her eyes widening as she using all of her willpower to not rub her face. _Shit_ , she thought as she realized that the itchiness she had been feeling was only about to intensify.

Emma nodded proudly and walked over to her bed, scooping the cat up in her arms. “Say hi to Alyssa, Shakespeare,” Emma said as she walked closer so Alyssa could pet him. She didn’t notice Alyssa inching away from them.

“Oh, Emma, I’m sorry, I’m… ahhh-” Alyssa couldn’t even finished her sentence before she started sneezing repeatedly, stepping away from Emma and the monster in her arms.

“ _Bless you_ ,” Emma said emphatically as her eyes darted between Shakespeare and her girlfriend with mild horror. “Are you allergic?”

Alyssa nodded weakly, tears streaming down her face. Emma quickly placed him back down on the bed and passed the box of tissues from her dresser to Alyssa. Alyssa grabbed the box gratefully and hurriedly yanking five tissues out before she kept sneezing, showing no signs of stopping. 

Emma blushed; this wasn’t exactly how she pictured Alyssa’s first visit to her room going. “Can I … get you some water?” she asked, not sure what to do.

Alyssa shook her head. “I just… need to get out of here.”

Emma lead her back to living room while shutting Shakespeare inside her room, hoping it would bring her girlfriend some relief. But they had no such luck; the whole house was full of cat hair, and it was getting harder and harder for Alyssa to breathe. 

It was hard to tell who was more embarrassed when Alyssa finally decided she had to go home. Emma turned bright red, almost as red as Alyssa’s eyes, as she hastily led her sneezing girlfriend out the front door. The two didn’t even say goodbye as Alyssa bolted to her car; Emma watched her as she left, staring at the beginnings of hives forming on the back of Alyssa’s neck. 

This… presented a problem.

Emma sighed as she walked back to her room and flopped down on her bed. Shakespeare looked at her with big, inquisitive eyes.

“It’s okay,” she told him as she stroked his back. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

* * *

It was during Christmas vacation, after a week apart while Alyssa visited her cousins in Chicago, that Emma invited her back. 

The second time her girlfriend visited, Emma spent days preparing. She vacuumed her room like crazy, and she washed her bedding and her fuzzy blue rug twice to get as much hair off them as she could. Her room became a no-Shakespeare zone, which she did _not_ like. Every night at bedtime, he meowed angrily outside her locked door, begging to bed let in. Her bed felt sad and empty without him, and she had a hard time falling asleep, but she told herself it would be worth it for a few unsupervised hours with her girlfriend.

When Alyssa arrived, Emma quickly whisked her though the house and into her bedroom, minimizing her exposure to the rest of the house as much as possible. Shakespeare tried to follow, but Emma shut the door before he had a chance to slide inside. 

Emma grinned proudly at Alyssa while Shakespeare angrily scratched at the door. “You can sit down; the bed is totally free of cat hair.” 

Alyssa (who had taken a double dose of claritin before arriving, unbeknownst to Emma) did her best to meet Emma’s enthusiasm, but she was still a little weary. “You didn’t have to do all this for me.”

“I want you to be comfortable here,” Emma replied. She grabbed Alyssa’s hand and led her to sit on the edge of the bed, still grinning. “And besides, the band closet was getting a little old.”

“It was,” Alyssa said, returning the grin as she realized that Emma’s cleaning overhaul made it actually possible for her to breathe. “And now I get to see your bedroom.”

Emma blushed a little. “Do you like it?”

“I love it,” Alyssa responded, not taking her eyes off Emma. 

Emma grinned shyly at Alyssa before leaning in and placing a quick peck on her lips. “I missed you,” she said with a smile as she pulled away. 

“I missed you, too,” Alyssa said. “I’m … really happy that I’m here. I’m glad you invited me.” She placed her hand on Emma’s thigh, and she could sense Emma instantly get nervous at the contact, but the good kind of nervous. 

“Okay, cool,” Emma replied, starting to babble. “Because I was really anxious about bringing you here, because I want to show you that you can have a safe place here, because I want you to feel safe, because I feel really safe when I’m with you-”

Emma was abruptly cut off when Alyssa leaned in and pressed their lips together again. Alyssa smiled as she felt Emma relax and kiss her back, biting down lightly on her lower lip. This was the first time they had kissed somewhere that wasn’t the band closet, and it felt wonderful to not be paralyzed by fear of being on school grounds.

Alyssa placed her hand further up on Emma’s inner thigh, tracing strange shapes with her thumb, while Emma leaned in and wrapped her arm around Alyssa’s waist. She began to pull her closer, her hand resting on the small of Alyssa’s back as their torsos pressed against each other. After a few minutes of eager kissing, Emma started to lean forward, gently encouraging Alyssa to lie down on the bed.

Alyssa was thrilled at the change of position; the two of them had never been horizontal before, and she was excited about the new territory. She leaned backwards onto Emma’s bedspread, Emma climbing on top of her. She began to make a trail of kissed down Alyssa’s neck, towards her collar bone as her fingers lightly danced across her shoulder. Alyssa gasped with excitement as Emma began to reach for her bra strap-

-until a high-pitched howling from outside the door broke their reverie. 

Both the girl’s eyes widened at the sound of Shakespeare’s lonely cries as they pulled apart, as if they had been caught in the act. Both sat up quickly, struggling for breath as the sad meows brought them back down to Earth from the cloud they had been floating on.

“Just ignore him,” Emma said quickly and leaned in again to kiss Alyssa again. But the once carefree and sensual moment was now torn apart by the continuous, angry meows from outside the door. The kisses didn’t feel good; both girls were tense, and they awkwardly pulled away after a few seconds. Shakespeare howled again, and both girls spoke at once.

“Em, maybe I should-”

“Why don’t I-” 

A brief pause followed before Alyssa spoke.

“Maybe I should head home...”

“ _No_ ,” Emma said fiercely, jumping up from the bed. “No.” She repeated herself, less aggressive this time. “I’ll just shut him in his cage we use when we travel. Give me one sec” 

Before Alyssa could say no, Emma bolted out the door and shut it tightly. Alyssa sat awkwardly with her hands in her lap, listening as Shakespeare’s lonely cries turned to angry yowls; he clearly did _NOT_ want to be in a cage. Alyssa felt like she was in a horror movie as she listened to a painful array of meows, hisses, thumping noises, and the occasional expletive (from Emma) from the other side of the door as her girlfriend fought the cat while she sat uncomfortably, wishing she had been born without allergies and also that she had been born straight so she wouldn’t have to sneak around just to kiss someone she liked. 

A few minutes later her girlfriend slid back into the bedroom looking significantly worse for wear. Alyssa’s eyes widened when she saw Emma covered head to toe in cat hair with more than a few scratches up and down her arms; there was one, a half moon on her face, where small beads of blood appeared on the surface of her skin. 

“I’m sorry about that,” Emma said awkwardly. “He … is never like that.”

Alyssa inched away from her nervously, backing up on the bed. “I think he’s just jealous,” Emma said as she stepped closer. “It has been just him and me for so long and now all of a sudden there’s a stranger in my room- are you okay?” Alyssa had scooted to the far back of the bed, as if she were cowering in fear. 

“Em, I’m sorry, but… the hair.” Alyssa felt her nose tickle just looking at it. 

Emma looked down at herself, seeing the thick coat of light colored hair clinging to her t-shirt and jeans. “Oh. I can change.” She reached for her dresser drawer to grab a new shirt before Alyssa cut her off. 

“No, I’m sorry,” Alyssa said sadly as she slid off the bed. “This is my fault, I shouldn’t have come back.”

She instantly regretted her choice of words as she saw Emma’s face fall. “Oh,” Emma responded, her lip quivering. _Damnit._

“No! I didn’t mean that, I _want_ to be here, it’s just that… I just don’t want to make things harder for you because of my stupid allergies.” Emma still looked sad, and Alyssa struggled to recover. “Maybe we can go for a drive tomorrow? Get out of town?”

Emma nodded, biting back tears of embarrassment. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Awesome,” Alyssa said. She stepped towards Emma and gave her hand a squeeze. “So I’ll see you then?”

Emma nodded again and lead Alyssa to the door, both of drowning in shame. The second Alyssa left, she ran to unlock Shakespeare from his cage, feeling awful for sticking him in there. The old cat was forgiving and quickly curled up in her lap while she stroked his ears.

Outside, Alyssa stepped into her mother’s car and banged her head on the steering wheel. “Damnit,” she growled out loud as she fished her keys out of her pocket. She had been looking forward to this all week! All she wanted to do was spend the day with Emma, cuddling Emma, talking with Emma, kissing Emma. But that stupid cat was creating a huge issue.

* * *

And then, on a cold weekend in late-January, it stopped being an issue.

* * *

Emma lead Alyssa and Betsy to a spot at the back of her grandmother’s property as she held the bundle tight. When they reached the spot, Emma carefully placed the bundle in Betsy’s arms and exchanged it for a shovel. Digging in the frozen ground was hard work; there had been a fresh snowfall the night before, and Emma’s gloves made gripping the shovel tricky. But all three were silent as Emma slowly and methodically dug the hole.

After about fifteen minutes of digging, Emma had created a hole just deep enough. Betsy squeezed the bundle gently before passing it to Emma, who held on tightly through her winter coat.

“Bye, Shakespeare,” she whispered, finally breaking the silence that loomed over them all.

“Do you want to… say a few words?” Alyssa said, awkwardly. It was so cold, she could see her breath. 

“No,” Emma replied curtly. Alyssa shoved her mittened hands into her coat pockets, embarrassed for suggesting it. She stared at the ground as she shivered, not noticing Betsy’s kind smile in her direction. When Emma had texted her earlier that day, she knew she needed to be here for her girlfriend, but she just didn’t know how. To make matters worse, Emma hadn’t said a word to her since she arrived today; she wasn’t quite sure what she should say or do.

Without looking at either her girlfriend or grandmother, Emma gently placed the bundle into the hole and started to cover it back up with the soil she had displaced. Before long, the hole was completely filled in; Emma gently patted down the top of it, a muddy black spot that stood out against the endless expanses of white snow.

The painful silence continued until Betsy spoke. “I’m going to head inside and start dinner. Why don’t you girls take a few minutes?”

Neither one spoke; they were standing a significant distance apart and hadn’t made eye contact in some time. 

“Take your time,” Betsy said before she turned around and started back towards the house, her boots patting the snow down gently with each step.

The two stood in silence for what felt like an eternity until Emma finally spoke. “Thanks for coming,” she said evenly, looking at Alyssa for the first time that day.

Alyssa looked at her, really looked at her. Wrapped in her down coat, scarf, and hat, Emma looked much smaller than usual. Her face was pale and expressionless. “Of course I came, Emma.”

Emma looked away and kicked at the snow around her ankles. “I know you didn’t really like him.”

“I didn’t _dis_ like him. I just… couldn’t be around him.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Emma said. “He just... meant a lot to me.”

Alyssa took a careful step closer to her. “I know he did.”

Emma shook her head fiercely in response. “No, you don’t really know,” she said, turning as she began to walk away. 

Alyssa felt her cheeks flame; she quickly caught up to Emma and grabbed her wrist. “Okay, so explain it to me.”

Emma didn’t look back at her. The hollow silence surrounded them again before she finally spoke. “I was… alone. For so, so long. Even before I came out, I didn’t really have many friends. No one… _liked me._ But he was always there.”

“Emma…”

“He was always there. When my grandpa died, when my parents kicked me out, he was always there with me. And he’s just… not _here_ anymore.” Emma’s voice cracked as she finished, much to her shame, and she felt the emotions she had been forcing away all morning race into her heart all at once.

Alyssa wrapped her arms around Emma’s torso from behind and squeezed tightly as Emma finally started to cry. She placed her head on Emma shoulder as she held her tight, trying to hold her together while she fell apart.

“I’m so sorry, Em,” Alyssa whispered into Emma’s neck, her face buried in Emma’s messy hair and thick scarf. 

“You don’t even like cats,” Emma whimpered through her tears. Her glasses began to fog, and soon she couldn’t seen out of them. 

“Yeah, but I like a girl who likes cats,” Alyssa replied, placing a small kiss on Emma’s cheek. It was warm, a stark contrast to the frosty air, and wet with salty tears. 

“Can you … go inside?” Emma said, sniffling sadly. “I think I want to be alone.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to be out here by yourself-”

“ _Alyssa. Please."_

“Oh- okay,” Alyssa said, taken aback and a little hurt. She removed her arms from around Emma and turned back towards the house, kicking the snow a little as she walked. 

When she stepped inside, she sighed as the heat hit her face. It felt so good after being in the cold. She wasn’t sure if she should go home, or wait for Emma to be ready to come inside-

“Do you want to stay for dinner, Alyssa?” Betsy asked her. 

“Oh,” Alyssa said simply. “I… um, I don’t want to impose.”

Betsy smiled at her kindly. “Of course not, dear. Why don’t you help me until Emma is ready to come inside?” She gestured to a pile of onions, carrots, and celery. “I’m making chicken soup and could use some help chopping.” 

Alyssa nodded, grateful for the task. She quickly peeled off her layers of winter-wear before joining Betsy in the kitchen. She had never been alone with Emma’s grandmother before, and she was shocked at how nervous she was. Usually parents and grandparents loved her; she was a straight-A student, a good Christian girl, and any parent’s dream. But meeting her girlfriend’s family - well, that was new territory. She quickly washed her hands, grabbed an apron, and set up cutting up two fat onions.

For a long time, the sound of knives scraping against cutting boards was the only thing saving them from silence, until Betsy caught Alyssa staring out the window at Emma, who was sitting in the snow bedside Shakespeare’s grave. “Poor thing,” Betsy said simply. “She’ll be alright with some time.”

Alyssa cleared her throat. “I just … feel so awful. I wish there was something I could do for her.”

Betsy sighed. “When you live as long as I have, you lose more cats and dogs than you can count. It’s a part of growing up. The first one is always the hardest though.” 

“I can’t imagine how she feels,” Alyssa said, not tearing her eyes away from the window.

Betsy smiled at her. “Do you have pets?”

Alyssa shook her head. “I’m allergic to everything with fur. I had a goldfish for a few weeks once, but it died. It’s not the same though.”

“No, it certainly isn’t,” Betsy said. She heard Alyssa sniffle, and Betsy looked more closely at her. She noticed that her eyes had quickly grown red. “Are you alright, dear? The onions bothering you?”

Alyssa shook her head again. “No, there’s just still cat hair everywhere in here.” She cringed after she said it; she was afraid that it sounded like a comment on Betsy’s housekeeping. 

But Betsy didn’t take it that way at all. She put down her knife and went to wash her hands. “I’ll do some vacuuming to see if I can’t make it better for you.” 

Alyssa blushed fiercely. “Oh no, you don’t have to do that-”

But Betsy had already reached into the closet to pull out the vacuum. “I want you to feel comfortable here.”

Alyssa smiled shyly; Emma had said the same thing to her a few weeks ago on her second visit. It really touched her, how they wanted her to feel like she belonged. She never felt that way, even in her own home.

“Thank you, Mrs. Nolan.”

“You can call me Betsy, sweetie,” the old woman said with a small laugh. 

Alyssa returned the laugh, starting to feel at ease. “Thank you, Betsy.” She had to stop when laugh triggered a coughing fit; Alyssa put down her knife as she hastily covered her mouth with her arm while she tried to clear her throat.

Betsy frowned as she plugged in the vacuum. “Well, at least without Shakespeare here driving you crazy, you can spend a little more time with us.”

Alyssa reached for a tissue and shook her head. “No, I don’t want that,” she said before blowing her nose.

“What do you mean?”

Alyssa sniffled as she looked back out the window at Emma; she hadn’t moved from her spot on the ground. “Emma should get another cat. Shakespeare made her so happy; I don’t want to take that away from her, even if it means I get to see her less.”

Betsy smiled warmly at her. “That’s very kind of you.”

“Well, I love her.” 

Alyssa’s eyes widened in surprise as she brought her hand to her lips, as if she could catch the words as they flew out of her mouth. Betsy could tell this was the first time she had ever said it, maybe the first time she was realizing it herself. She gave Alyssa a knowing smile as the girl blushed even deeper, and it was in that exact moment that Betsy had an excellent idea.

* * *

An idea that became a Valentine’s gift for her granddaughter and her girlfriend. 

An idea that came with a pink bow wrapped around its neck. 

An idea that had Emma and Alyssa both break down in happy sobs when they met their new puppy, a completely adorable mini golden labradoodle - who just so happened to be hypoallergenic - that jumped all over them giving them sloppy kisses.

“You didn’t have to do that for me,” Alyssa cried as she threw her arms around Betsy, tears spilling out of her eyes as she hugged the old woman tightly. 

“Oh, Alyssa,” Betsy said knowingly, “I think we may be seeing more of you around here then you realize.”


End file.
